Guest Contributor

✍ Calling all writers! ✍
SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN

Submissions are rolling in for our latest call, and we are THRILLED by what we have seen so far...

Have you submitted your story yet???

It's the End of the World at ELA Literary. We want stories that unsettle us with their setting, grip us with their characters, and leave us with questions for days to come. We’re not looking for another Hunger Games or A Handmaid’s Tale, or an adaptation of Fallout or Dead Space; we’re not looking for the next Dune or Ex Machina – we want to see the new worlds you create after this one has long gone!

All submission details can be found here:

Posted by: Emma Stead

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An exploration into what comes after the end of the world. 

Between the three of us, we all have some fascination with dystopian fiction. Growing up we each had our own “dystopian phase,” which arguably shaped much of the twisted-ness we liked to see in fiction. Dystopia is dark, gritty, and thought-provoking – and what’s more so in all of these categories than the end of the world!

Whether it’s alien science fiction, commenting on life amongst the stars after life down here came to an end; post-apocalyptic fiction, showing what life is like on earth after everything we know falls to tragedy; or the fantastical concept of myth, monster, and the coming of rapture to end all as we know it – we want to read your take on the end of the world. 

We want stories that unsettle us with their setting, grip us with their characters, and leave us with questions for days to come. We’re not looking for another Hunger Games or A Handmaid’s Tale, or an adaptation of Fallout or Dead Space; we’re not looking for the next Dune or Ex Machina – we want to see the new worlds you create after this one has long gone!

If you want to get a feel for what we’ve previously accepted, feel free to check out our Spotlight Series or read through our previous publications here!

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

The joy of language is that every word has 101 different meanings. Some are obvious, as clear as written on the page. For others, you have to look a little bit deeper. Then, there are those meanings which lurk in the shadows, just out of the corner of your eye, waiting to reveal themselves only once you give them your full attention.

No matter what kind of writer you identify as, we want to read the stories that have been gathering dust in drawers and hard-drives from all over the world. So if you have a story that subverts expectations, plays on the idea of tired tropes, is a little bit twisted, or a representation of something you’d like to see appear in your genre, we want to read it!

Each of our issues will be centred around a particular theme. These are broad and will be announced when our submissions open. We encourage you to get creative with it - we want to be surprised with what we read!

LENGTH AND FORMAT

We’ll worry about the final formatting so choose to present your work however is most comfortable for you, but please make sure your submission is readable!

In terms of word count, we are looking for pieces between 150 to 3,000 words. At the moment, we are only publishing flash fiction and short stories. We will consider excerpts from larger works, however the piece must be able to stand alone. 

We will not accept any work that we suspect to be fully-created with AI.

When submitting your work, please title your document: STORY NAME-AUTHOR NAME

SUBMISSION PROCESS

Before submitting your work for the latest issue, please check if our submission window is open.
We are a UK-based magazine and so the date is written: DD / MM / YYYY.
We will not be taking submissions for the magazine outside of this window. 

To submit to our latest issue, send it as an attached Word file to elaliterarymagazine@gmail.com with the subject line: Submission: NAME OF THEME. In the main body of the email tell us a little bit about yourself, your writing process, what the story is about, and why you think it would be a good fit for the magazine! If you think your work might require trigger warnings, can you also let us know in the email. It won’t effect your chances of featuring if you have them or not, but we want to make our readers aware of any potentially sensitive material.

We aim to get back to you as soon as possible to let you know we’ve received your submission, and aim to have chosen our featured pieces two-three weeks after the closing date. We’ll then notify all of the successful authors, and give an honourable mention to our runner-ups on our social media.

After this, we begin the editing process and will keep you updated with the progress and the eventual publication date for the magazine.

Our magazine will then go live on the website and will be free to download!

PAYMENT

Unfortunately, we cannot offer payment for successful contributions; however, it is free to submit to the magazine. 

We will not ask you for payment to submit your work, so if someone does reach out as a member of our team asking for payment, please let us know ASAP.

THE LEGAL STUFF

In accordance with British Copyright Law, “You automatically get copyright protection when you create: original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work, including illustration and photography.” However, the compilation copyright will belong to ELA Literary Magazine, meaning that while you have the rights to your work, ELA Literary Magazine owns the anthology and featured artwork.